MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
HỒ THỊ THIÊN TRANG
A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
OF TOURISM ADVERTISEMENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE
Field: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Code: 60.22.15
M. A. THESIS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (A SUMMARY)
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lưu Quý Khương
Danang, 2011
This thesis has been completed at College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang.
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lưu Quý Khương
Examiner 1: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trương Viên
Examiner 2: Ngũ Thiện Hùng, Ph.D.
This thesis will be orally defended at the Examination Council at University of Danang.
Time : August, 31st, 2011 Venue : University of Danang
* This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at:
- Library of College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang - The Information Resources Center, University of Danang.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. RATIONALE
Advertising is also one of the real forms of communicative activities which can not be separated from language use influenced by language ability and knowledge of advertisers.
Tourism advertisements have their own characteristics by combination of the different components in their own lexical, morphosyntactic and textual rules. Moreover, the language used in tourism advertisements must be condensed, believable, distinctive and images used are highly selective and should look “real” in the eyes of readers. In other words, it must sound convincing to readers in such a way that it quickly makes readers realize the benefits of a certain product or service. With the rapid economic growth and travel needs’ increase, tourism advertisements (TAds) have become a vital means for tourists to make a tour. In order to capture the public’s attention, TAds need to have distinguishing features of layout, discourse structure, lexis, grammar, cohesive devices, and so on.
Therefore, “A Discourse Analysis of Tourism Advertisements in English and Vietnamese” is expected to be beneficial.
1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.2.1. Aims of the Study
This study aims to analyze the typical discourse features of ETAds and VTAds as well as discover similarities and differences of these features between the two languages.
1.2.2. Objectives of the Study
- To describe discourse features of ETAds and VTAds in terms of the layout, lexical features, cohesive and stylistic devices.
- To compare and contrast these features between the two languages to find out similarities and differences.
- To suggest some applications for Vietnamese learners of English, people work for tourism, travel agencies as well as copywriters in writing effective and persuasive TAds.
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is limited to analysing discourse features of tourism advertisements such as layout, lexical choice, cohesive and stylistic devices of written English and Vietnamese tourism advertisements collected from websites of travel companies, the similarities and differences of these features between the two languages as well as their implications.
1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.What are the discourse features in terms of the layout, lexical choice, cohesive and stylistic devices of tourism advertisements in English and Vietnamese (ETAds and VTAds)?
2. What are the similarities and differences between tourism advertisements of the two languages in terms of the layout, lexical choices, cohesive and stylistic devices?
1.5. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study consists of five chapters: Chapter 1 (Introduction), Chapter 2 (Literature Review and Theoretical Background), Chapter 3 (Methods and Procedures), Chapter 4 (Findings and Discussion) and Chapter 5 (Conclusions and Implications).
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. PREVIOUS RESEARCHES RELATED TO THE STUDY Under the heading of discourse analysis, many scholars including Harris [26], Austin [1], Searles [53], Grice [21] Crystal, David and Davy, Derek [14], Galperin [19] Halliday and Hassan [27]
and so on have a great influence on the understanding and teaching of coherence, context, speech act theory topic and so forth
In Vietnam, discourse analysis has drawn much attention of many researchers such as Trần Ngọc Thêm [85], Diệp Quang Ban [70], Nguyễn Hoà [81]. Furthermore, a number of practical studies relevant to the topic have been undertaken such as Phan Văn Hoà [84], Nguyễn Thị Thu Hường [45], Ngô Thị Hồng [43].
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1. Discourse and Discourse Analysis 2.2.1.1. Concepts of Discourse
The term discourse is basically understood as human language in use for communication. The concept of “Discourse” is regarded as a language in use, for communication to convey a message in which has meaning unity, purpose with the various length and related to the context of an event in which it is used.
2.2.1.2. Concepts of Discourse Analysis
Brown and Yule [6] stated that “Discourse analysis is the study of language use with the reference to the social and psychological factors that influence communication”.
2.2.2. Text and Context 2.2.2.1. Concepts of Text
“Text" is understood as a semantic unit of language in written form which is complete in form and structure.
2.2.2.2. Concepts of Context
In this thesis, “context” is understood as the interpretation of the text including situational context, background context and co- text. Situational context is the situation or an event where the interaction is taking place. Background context is considered as the general knowledge so that people carry out their minds about areas of life and interpersonal knowledge about the history of the events. Co-
text is the linguistic environment surrounding the text and helps to limit the range of the interpretation of the text.
2.2.3. Cohesion and Coherence
a) Cohesion: Cohesion is called grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion and can be categorized into five groups: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion.
b) Coherence: coherence refers to the grammatical and semantic interconnectedness between sentences that form a text (discourse grammar). As coherence is the implicit links in a text, it lies in how people interprete texts rather than in the texts themselves, Yule, G. [65].
2.2.4. Advertising and Tourism Advertisements 2.2.4.1. Notions and Aims of Advertising
Advertising is one of the main elements of the market communication mix. It involves using paid media to communicate persuasive information about a destination, product or service.
2.2.4.2. Genre of Advertising
Basing on the aims, Vestergaard and Schorder [59] divided advertising into two main types: commercial and non-commercial advertising.
2.2.4.3. Language of Advertising
Advertising language is a marketing tool used in a communicative process to send a message to receivers (consumers), who will react or respond in a certain way. Both senders and receivers must be active participants in the same communicative relationship in order for thought to be shared [88].
2.2.5. Tourism and Tourism Advertisements 2.2.5.1. Definitions of Tourism
World Tourism Organization [97] defined that “Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places
outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”.
2.2.5.2. Products of Tourism
The tourism product may be defined as a bundle or package of tangible and intangible components, based on activities at a destination. The package is perceived by the tourist as an experience available at a price.” [40]
2.2.5.3. Tourism Advertisements
Tourism advertisements as the communicative intent is to provide tourists with the essential information for helping them decide what places to visit and which tour(s) to book. Moreover, tourism advertising also follows the AIDA principle used in marketing: “attracting Attention, creating Interest, fostering Desire and inspiring Action”.
2.2.5.4. Distinctive Function of Tourism Advertising
Due to the intangible and heterogeneous nature of tourism products, tourism advertisements have a distinctive function is to inform consumers about the travel agency’s products and to attract bookings for them.
2.2.5.5. Definitions of Tour
Tour in the thesis is considered as the journey’s fixed schedule of which includes duration, visiting places, accomodation, transportation, an expert guide, assurance, the price and other services. It can be called package tours.
2.2.5.6. Generic Structures of Tourism Advertisements Basing on tourism advertisements collected, it can be seen that the general structure of a tourism advertisement in general consists of three main parts as follows: Overview, Tour Details, Additional Mentions.
CHAPTER 3
METHODS AND PROCEDURES 3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN
The paper design is based on combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
3.2.RESEARCH METHODS
The research was conducted with combination of several methods: descriptive, analytic, comparative, contrastive and inductive. Among them, the descriptive and contrastive methods were the dominant ones which are most frequently used in the thesis.
3.3. DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLES
200 TAds (100 in English and 100 in Vietnamese) which have been publicized since 2010 up to now were chosen to investigate and have the average length from 200 to 500 words.
3.4. DATA COLLECTION
The collected data for analysis in this thesis came from websites of popular travel agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Newzealand, Australia and Vietnam.
3.5. DATA ANALYSIS
TAds in English and Vietnamese were analyzed in terms of the layout, lexical features, cohesive and stylistic devices, then made a comparison of English and Vietnamese TAds right after the analysis results of each category were revealed.
3.6. RESEARCH PROCEDURES
First of all, we carried out collecting and classifying data.
Second, we began to analyze data and compare then contrast TAds.
Finally, some implications were put forward for teaching, learning as well as writing ads and giving suggestions for further researches.
3.7. VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
In the thesis, the validity and reliability were established, from collecting and analyzing data to producing the research results. All the corpora have been gathered from the most popular and prestigious websites in the U.S, the U.K, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam. The accuracy and formality of language in the collected data ensure the validity and reliability of the research. In addition, frequency of occurrence in percentages of discourse features of ETAds`and VTAds is set up reliably for making a comparison of these features between the two types of tourism advertisements to find out the similarities and differences of the two languages. The investigation is carried out on the basis of the theoretical background from reliable publications of experienced linguists as presented in Chapter 2.
CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1. LAYOUT OF ETADS AND VTADS
4.1.1. Layout of ETAds 4.1.1.1. Overview
Overview includes brief summary parts with three basic elements: Heading, Introduction and Information. First, Heading provides duration, transportation and location. Second, Introduction, which is a general description of the trip with highlights helps readers can visualize where they arrive in and which places they visit. Third, General Information, it consists of tour code, tour type, prices, departure point, end point, duration and so on. However, not always is all such factors found in General Information, one or more of which can be omitted.
4.1.1.2. Tour Details
Tour Details can be also called Body copy and considered as the main part in the ads, it expands information in the Overview.
Weaver and Oppermann [61] asserted that a package tour generally comprise transportation and accommodation. In the thesis, the Tour Details comprise paragraphs with a specific itinerary, name of visiting places, activities, transportation and accommodation. The Tour Details provides support and detailed information about the product or in simpler terms, it describes detailed timetables of package tours.
4.1.1.3. Additional Mentions
Additional Mentions are often placed at the end of the ads. It includes Extras and Contact. The Extras are references with additional information like recomendating visistors what to take with them on the tour, what is included or excluded, terms/conditions and so on. The Contact consists of contact information such as Logo, Advertiser name, Address, Phone number, Fax number, E-mail, Map or Driving Directions and web site address.
4.1.2. Layout of VTAds 4.1.2.1. Overview
The Overview of Vietnamese tourism advertisements also has three parts: Heading, Introduction and Information. Heading is a proper name of visiting places, usually it comprises place names and duration of the trip. Most of the Heading of VTAds are mainly locations which are separated by hyphens and duration of the tour is placed in brackets, it directly introduces place names as well as duration of the tour with briefness and simplicity. Introduction is sometimes italic and sometimes is regular with various font size, it gives general parts about tourist attractions as well as necessary information about the plan of the tour. Information contains tour
code, duration, tour type, starting time, means of transportation, prices and so on follow the route.
4.1.2.2. Tour Details
The schedule of the tour is detailed routes and is also a main factor during the trip. The route consists of fully displayed date (hours, morning, afternoon, evening), visiting places, activities, transportation and accommodation. Besides, there are some pictures showing the whole of the view there to draw readers’ attention.
4.1.2.3. Additional Mentions
Additional Mentions are the last part in VTAds. It provides readers with Extras which include terms/conditions, detailed prices, contact information in order to compare which services make benefit to the customers. Contact is placed at the end of the VTAds so that the customers can easily get in touch with travel agencies. It supplies the address, phone number, fax number, email, website address and especially live chat (chat online). Furthermore, the logos of travel agencies also appear at the top of VTAds’ left corner but they are a few, not much. Just some prestigious and reliable travel companies make their trade name in the tourism market.
4.1.3. Comparison of Layout of ETAds and VTAds 4.1.3.1. Similarities
All prominent features of the layout in ETAd are found in VTAds. To begin with, the Overview with Heading, Introduction and Information mention location and duration with simplicity and briefness. Next, Tour Details specify itineraies, place names, activities, transportation and accommodation with illustrations and type faces, colors to draw the customers’ attention and interest.
Finally, Additional Mentions include Extras and Contact among that logos are also designed in various colors and types.
4.1.3.2. Differences
First, the Heading in ETAds shows locations, duration and transportation, meanwhile VTAds is just includes location and duration, no transportation. Second, in Tour Details, the itineraries in ETAds have no specific time such as hours, morning, afternoon and evening but VTAds do. Last, in the Contact, live chat is also an important needs to readers in case they would like to have information immediately, so VTAds are often used it to contact and answer all information readers are interested in while the elements seems to be absent in ETAds. ETAds’ logos are placed at the end of the ads, meanwhile, VTAds’ logos are placed at the top of the ads.
4.2. LEXICAL CHOICES OF ETADS AND VTADS 4.2.1. Lexical Choices of ETAds
4.2.1.1. Triggering Words
Triggering words are defined as words to start a series of actions or events [90]. Triggering words often begin a series of activities and appear in the itineraries of the tour in TAds to motivate the customers’ decisions and promote the trade of the travel agencies.
4.2.1.2. Adjectives
Leech [36] stated “Advertising language is marked by a wealth of adjective vocabularies”. Adjectives used most in TAds are often descriptive. Besides, the adjectives combine with various colorful pictures of the products to indicate characteristics of advertised products and help readers imagine tourist attractions and then they make up their mind to choose the product.
4.2.1.3. Adverbs
Adverbs are words that add more information about place, time, circumstances, manner etc to a verb, an adjective, a phrase or another adverbs. Adverbs of time and adverbs of place are often appeared in TAds, give more information about place and time of a
product and denote the time of the route as well as emphasize the place presented.
4.2.1.4. Pronouns
Pronouns are often used in TAds, especially personal pronouns, they help advertisers creat the personal relation with receivers. The thesis is mentioned subject pronouns and object pronouns. A subject pronoun as “we” in first person and “you” in second person, object pronouns as “you, us” are often mentioned in TAds, they show tie between advertisers and readers.
4.2.1.5. Nouns
Nouns are one of main parts of speech and considered as naming words; they name people, things and places. Nouns have occurence most in TAds. Nevertheless, proper nouns are used in the research. The proper nouns are basically names of specific places, persons and things, they generally have unique denotation and are usually written with initial capital letters.
Table 4.1. Summary of Lexical Choices in ETAds Type of words Occurrence %
Triggering Words 1238 18.1
Adjectives 854 12.5
Adverbs 536 7.8
Pronouns 275 4
Nouns 3946 57.6
Total 6849 100
4.2.2. Lexical Choice of VTAds 4.2.2.1. Triggering Words
Triggering words are considered as one of the most important parts in VTAds, most of the general words used in order to express a sequence of activities taking place during the trip from the beginning
to end of the itineraries.(eg. homeland, place names) 4.2.2.2. Adjectives
Positive adjectives are very essential parts of speech in writing TAds, so advertisers use descriptive adjectives to express all quality as well as nature beauty of each site
4.2.1.3. Adverbs
Most of VTAds have appearance of adverbs, among these, avderbs of time and adverbs of place are the two kinds used most.
They are always placed at the beginning of a sentence to emphasize the fixed time as well as the visiting places for vistors following the given itineraries of the tour that is planned by the tour producers.
4.2.2.4. Collective Nouns
Nouns are a word that names a person, place, thing, state or action. However, nouns used most popular in VTAds are collective nouns. The utility of these collective nouns make readers feel close and friendly.
4.2.2.5. Proper Nouns
Proper nouns in VTAds have extra important role, proper nouns indicate proper names of places, especially destinations of the tour, they give readers to know how the tour takes place and where they will visit as well as remember the places and make up their mind to have the tour. The distribution of lexical features of VTAds is summarized in the following table:
Table 4.2. Summary of Lexical Choice in VTAds
Type of words Occurrence %
Triggering Words 2785 40.9
Adjectives 803 11.8
Adverbs 302 4.4
Collective Nouns 459 6.7
Proper nouns 2459 36.2
Total 6808 100
4.2.3. Comparison of Lexical Choices between ETAds and VTAds
4.2.3.1. Similarities
Both English and Vietnamese tourism copywriters mention common elements in choosing lexis such as triggering words, adjectives, adverbs collective nouns and proper nouns. Looking the two above tables of TAds in English and Vietnamese, we can see that the usage of adjectives found in the two kinds of ads has equivalence (12.5% in ETAds and 11.8% in VTAds).
4.2.3.1. Differences
In the first place, triggering words in VTAds are used more twofold more than ETAds (40.9% in VTAds vs 18.1% in ETAds). In the second place, frequence of proper nouns and adverbs in ETAds are higher than VTAds (proper nouns: 57.6% vs 36.2% and adverbs:
7.8% vs 4.4%). In the third place, pronouns in ETAds are 4%, VTAds have collective nouns with 6.7% but ETAds do not. Perhaps the reason is that lexical choice for TAds in Vietnamese display in details, clearly and concretely with copious words. Moreover, it can be seen that arrangement as well as the utility of lexicon in VTAds is more logic and interesting than ETAds.
4.3. COHESIVE DEVICES IN ETADS AND VTADS 4.3.1. Cohesive Devices in ETAds
4.3.1.1. Reference
Halliday and Hassan [24] divided reference into two kinds:
Exophora and Endophora. Endophoric reference also has two kinds:
Anaphora and Cataphora. Anaphoric reference used in both kinds of the ads indicates the place mentioned. Both anaphora and cataphora are generally realised by pronouns (personal as it, possessive as its and demonstrative as here, there, then mentioned in ETAds).
Furthermore, demonstrative reference “here” is the most frequently
used as a matter of fact, it refers the place mentioned before and emphasize the destination tourists will visit.
Table 4.3. Distribution of Reference in ETAds Types of Reference Occurence %
Personal Pronouns 64 5.1
Possessive Pronouns 143 11.5
Demonstrative Pronouns 287 23.1
Total 494 39.7
4.3.1.2. Ellipsis
Ellipsis occurs when a certain structural element is omitted from a sentence or clause and only can be recovered by referring to an element in the preceding text Nunan [46]. Ellipsis is normally an anaphoric relation and consists of three types: nominal, verbal and clausal. It sometimes appears in avoiding being repeated in a sentence and in most cases, it is nominals and verbals. No clausal ellipsis occurs in ETAds.
Table 4.4. Distribution of Ellipsis in ETAds Types of Ellipsis Occurrence %
Nominal 41 3.4
Verbal 18 1.4
Clausal 0 0
Total 59 4.8
4.3.1.3. Conjunctions
Unlike reference and ellipsis, a conjunction does not show an anaphoric relation – reminding the reader of previously mentioned entities, actions and state of affairs, Nunan [46]. Conjunctions can be categorized based on temporality, causality, addition and adversity.
Each of these kinds focuses on a special aspect of relation.
Table 4.5. Distribution of Conjunctions in ETAds
Type Occurrence %
Additive 103 8.2
Adversative 16 1.3
Causal 0 0
Conjunctions
Temporal 68 5.5
Total 187 15
4.3.1.4. Repetition
Galperin [19] showed that “repetition is also one of the devices having its origin in the emotive language. Repetition when applied to the logical language becomes simply an instrument of grammar. Its origin is to be seen in the excitement accompanying the expression of a feeling being brought to its highest tension”.
Repetition in ETAds is to emphasize the place or an activity and appeal readers’ attention.
4.3.1.5. General Words
A general word is words or phrases considering or dealing with overall characteristics, universal aspects, or important elements, especially without considering all details or specific aspects. [86]. A general word in the TAds replaces a person, a thing, or a place. It rarely appears in ETAds, it only does in VTAds. This part will be discussed later in Cohesive Devices of VTAds.
The use and frequency of cohesive devices are tabulated in ETAds in the following table.
Table 4.6. Occurences of Cohesive Devices in ETAds Types of Cohesive Devices Occurrence %
Reference 494 39.7
Ellipsis 59 4.8
Conjunction 187 15
Repetition 503 40.5
General words 0 0
Total 1243 100
4.3.2. Cohesive Devices in VTAds 4.3.2.1. Reference
VTAds’reference is also the major cohesive device, all reference forms in VTAds are anaphoric, among which verbs, personal pronouns take up the most. Unlike ETAds, demonstrative and personal pronouns reference in VTAds sometimes occur and there are no possessive determiners as well as comparative reference.
In addition, demonstrative reference “tại ñây”, “nơi ñây”, “tại ñó”,
“ñến nơi”... are also used to assert the place mentioned before.
Table 4.7. Distribution of Reference in VTAds Types of Reference Occurrence %
Personal Pronouns 37 4
Possessive Pronouns 0 0
Demonstrative Pronouns 118 12.9
Comparative 0 0
Total 155 16.9
4.3.2.2. Ellipsis
The frequence of ellipsis is not much and usually nominals and verbals. Nominal ellipsis appears here as a subject or an object and ellipsis makes sentences or noun phrases shorter and urgent. Clausal ellipsis is not present to avoid the unneccessary broken sentences and ambiguity to the readers of all kinds. The table below will exemplify this point.
Table 4.8. Distribution of Ellipsis in VTAds Types of Ellipsis Occurrence %
Nominal 57 6.2
Verbal 12 1.3
Clausal 0 0
Total 69 7.5
4.3.2.3. Conjunctions
A conjunction is the tie between ideas or sentences together, it gives more detailed information of next sentences, it is a bridge by transition signals to make sentences in a text smoothly, addition and temporality in VTAds are often placed at the beginning or the middle of the sentence to expand meaning of the sentences. Temporal markers show the beginning and ending point of the excursion. The table below describes the use of conjunction in VTAds.
Table 4.9. Distribution of Conjunctions in VTAds
Type Occurrence %
Additive 124 13.6
Adversative 0 0
Causal 0 0
Conjunctions
Temporal 98 10.7
Total 222 24.3
4.3.2.4. Repetition
One important thing that makes texts coherent is the repetition of important words or structure. It means that the word or structure is used more than once so that advertisers want to express his ideas or mention the place many times to customers. In VTAds, the repetition is frequently used for the sake of emphasis.
4.3.2.5. General Words
Unlike ETAds, a general word in VTAds is often found more.
It often appears after the following linking verbs “ñược xem như là”,
“ñược mệnh danh là”, “ñược biết ñến như”, “ñược coi là”, and these general words explain the place name mentioned in the past and make meaning of the sentences more interesting, especially to stimulate readers’ curiosity.
Table 4.10. Frequency of Cohesive Devices in VTAds Types of Cohesive Devices Occurrence %
Reference 155 16.9
Ellipsis 69 7.5
Conjunction 222 24.3
Repetition 314 34.3
General words 156 17
Total 916 100
4.3.3. Comparison of Cohesive Devices in ETAds and VTAds 4.3.3.1. Similarities
Both kinds of the ads have reference, ellipsis, conjunctions and repetition in cohesive devices. To begin with, reference is used as anphoric in ETAds and VTAds, they are personal, demonstrative and possessive pronouns. Personal pronouns are most used to refer to previously mentioned places. Next, ellipsis occurs in a common noun as a subject, a verb. Then conjunctions, they focus on a special aspect of relation as well as connect sentences together. Lastly, repetition, it is reiteration of key words or phrases in which nouns and verbs often appear in the two types. Among these devices, frequence of repetition in ETAds is as relatively same as in VTAds (40.5% ~ 34.3%).
4.3.3.2. Differences
First, reference in ETAds has the highest frequence as compared to VTAds, it is more twofold than VTAds (39.7% vs 16.9%). That is to say, reference is an effective cohesive device in ETAds. Second, ellipsis in ETAds occupies the least proportion with 4.8%, meanwhile, VTAds do 7.5%. Third, conjunctions in ETAds is also less than VTAds (15% vs 24.3%). Finally, general words are the only occur in VTAds with 17% but the frequency in ETAds is rare.
4.4. STYLISTIC DEVICES IN ETADS AND VTADS 4.4.1. Stylistic Devices in ETAds
4.4.1.1. Simile
Simile is a strategy which is perfectly employed in advertising and a special semantic trope in stylistic devices. According to Richard [51],“Simile is an expression in which something is compared to something else by the use of a function word such as like or as”.
4.4.1.2. Metaphor
Metaphor is a type of expressive and figurative language in which one semantic field of reference is carried out over or transferred to another. According to Lakoff and Johnson [32] stated that metaphor as statements and/or pictures which cause a receiver to experience one thing in terms of another.
4.4.1.3.Rhetorical Questions
Galperin [19], rhetorical question is a special syntactical stylistic device the essence of which consists in reshaping the grammatical meaning of interrogative sentence. In other words, the question is no longer a question but a statement expressed in the form of an interrogative sentence.
4.4.1.4. Hyperbole
According to Gapherin [19], “hyperbole is deliberate overstatement or exaggeration, the aim of which is to intensify one of the features of the object in question to such a degree as will show its utter absurdity”.
Table 4.11. Frequency of Stylistic Devices in ETAds Types of Stylistic Devices Occurrence %
Simile 107 12.4
Metaphor 259 30.1
Rhetorical questions 56 6.5
Hyperbole 438 50.9
Total 860 100
4.4.2. Stylistic Devices in VTAds 4.4.2.1. Simile
Simile in VTAds also has the same function like ETAds, it is the strategy from advertisers, it asserts the success of an ad, so it is an indispensable tool in VTAds. Moreover, simile is a figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made two things essential unlike.
Thus, the advertisements are the most attractive form to readers by this techniques.
4.4.2.2. Metaphor
Metaphor in VTAds is one of the most successful rhetorical devices with implicit meaning, but reading it, readers still understand what the advertiser means. By using floric words in writing VTAds make VTAds really lively and vividly.
4.4.2.3. Hyperbole
Hyperbole is also an art in writing VTAds, it beautifies tourist attractions more attractively and make prominent to the products.
Advertisers often use hyperbole to give dignity as well as enhance value of their products and it is one of the most important techniques to get good result.
Table 4.12. Frequency of Stylistic Devices in VTAds Types of Stylistic Devices Occurrence %
Simile 172 18.5
Metaphor 205 22.1
Rhetorical questions 0 0.0
Hyperbole 551 59.4
Total 928 100
4.4.3. Comparison of Stylistic Devices in ETAds and VTAds 4.4.3.1. Similarities
First of all, hyperbole is the highest, next is metaphor and
lastly is simile. Metaphor is so interesting and prominent device, used to add descriptive meaning. Hyperbole not only occurs the most frequence but also makes the products or service more noticable and desirable
4.4.3.2. Differences
Hyperbole is employed more in VTAds (59.4%) than in ETAds with the percentage of 50.9%. The reason is that native’s personality, philosophy as well as their taste and way of thinking are different from Vietnamese people. Then, metaphor with 30.1% in ETAds compared with 22.1% in VTAds. Although the difference is not considerable, it still shows readers to see the differences in using the device. As for simile, with 18.5%, simile in VTAds is rather higher than ETAds with 12.4%.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1. CONCLUSIONS
“A Discourse Analysis of Tourism Advertisements in English and Vietnamese” is a study of how TAds are structured and what characteristic discourse features are used in these advertisements.
Thus, we carry out to analyze the layout, lexical features, cohesive and stylistic devices of ETAds and VTAds, then compare and contrast these features to find out similarities and differences between two languages.
In terms of layout, both ETAds and VTAds share the similar frame with 3 parts: Overview, Tour Details and Additional Mentions.
Firstly, Overview includes Heading, Introduction and Information.
Heading is normally composed of noun phrases and indicates visiting places that put at the beginning of ads with bold font. Introduction generally presents tourist attractions, then Information shows
duration, price, tour type, tour code, departure time. Secondly, Tour Details specifies itineraries of the tour with visiting places, given time as well as activities, transportation and accommodation. Lastly, Additional Mentions are a reference part which consists of Extras and Contact. Extras are special notes. Contact mentions logos of the brand name but it can be flexible with e-mail, phone number, website and sometimes logos can be absent in both of the ads.
As regard to lexical features, pronouns, triggering words, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns and nouns are found in ETAds and VTAds. Among these, ETAds and VTAds have rather equivalent occurence of adjectives (12.5% vs 11.8%). However, the frequency of triggering words in VTAds is the highest (40.9%) but ETAds is 18,1%. On the contrary, nouns are used in ETAds are the highest (57.6%) meanwhile 36.2% in VTAds.
As for cohesion in linguistic device of ETAds and VTAds contains reference, ellipsis, conjunctions, repetition and general words. Among these, repetition appears most frequently in both language (40.5% in ETAds vs 34.3% in VTAds). Next is reference with the frequency 39.7% in ETAds, meanwhile VTAds is just 16.9%, then conjunctions and ellipsis in both types, although their occurrence is no high, they are also parts to embellish cohesive devices, moreover, Vietnamese copywriters tend to use conjuctions in VTAds as the second position in the table of distribution of VTAds and it takes up higher than ETAds (24.3% vs 15.5%). Besides, general words do not occur in ETAds.
Finally, rhetoric devives such as simile, metaphor, rhetorical questions and hyperbole. Simile often appears in both of types of TAds, its apperance in ETAds is lower than VTAds (12.4% vs 18.5%). Hyperbole of the two kinds of TAds occurs the most and its occurence in VTAds is higher than ETAds (59.4% vs 50.9%).
Metaphor takes up 30.1% in ETAds and 22.1% in VTAds. Last but not least, rhetorical questions occur with lower frequency in English.
5.2. IMPLICATIONS
This thesis will make some useful contribution not only to teaching and learning English but also copywriters both theoretically and practically. Moreover, the study is a good result to those who work for tourism in travel agencies with good skills to write ads in their professional competence.
To teachers
The result will be hoped that to equip teachers basic knowledge in discourse analysis in field of advertising in general and some typical discourse features of TAds in particular. The study helps teachers to form a layout of tourism advertisements easily, then lead students to catch more how to use the words, style and cohesion in TAds.
To students
Similarly, students need a good knowledge of not only vocabularies, grammar and of discourse as well, especially style of writing which makes readers understand or not due to the way to use devices as well as differences in cultures and values that are embedded in the way people use their language. Furthermore, the comparision and contrast from the two kinds of TAds are a helpful material that helps them to cope with this.
To copywriters and travel agencies:
Copywriters and travel agencies are to master the way to write a succinct and vividly tourism advertisement to draw customers’
interest as well as attention. It is not easy to achieve this desire if copywriters and travel companies are not equipped the specialist knowledge and background methods about it. The result of the research helps them effecively twrite TAds for their companies.
5.3. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The thesis only focuses on some typical discourse features in terms of layout, lexical features, cohesive and stylistic devices in tourism advertisements. However, due to the restriction of media, all ETAds are downloaded from websites of travel agencies instead of approaching real ones as those in Vietnamese and the lack of time, references, as well as limited linguistic knowledge, the study can only examine some certain characteristics of ETAds a, therefore it has not reached the expected depth as it should.
5.4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTHER RESEARCH
- An Investigation into Syntactic Devices used in Tourism Advertisements.
- A Study on the Cultural Features of Tourism Advertisements.
- A Study on Some Discourse Features of Contextualization in Tourism Advertisements.
- An Investigation into Cultural Aspects and their role in Tourism Advertisements in view of transferring them in the translation process.